Nevada Supreme Court sides with Jewish political group in Adelson defamation case
CARSON CITY — A Jewish political organization is immune from civil liability in a defamation action brought by Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, the Nevada Supreme Court said Wednesday.
The court’s decision will be used by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to determine whether Adelson’s action can proceed. The case had been dismissed by a U.S. District Court in New York, but Adelson appealed.
Adelson sued the National Jewish Democratic Council over a 2012 online petition calling on former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to reject Adelson’s campaign contributions. The petition attempted to tie Adelson’s contributions to Las Vegas Sands revenues from China and linked to an Associated Press report on a civil case that claimed prostitution was tolerated at Sands’ Macau casinos.
Adelson has adamantly denied allegations of sanctioned prostitution in Macau. He filed his defamation lawsuit after the group refused to issue a retraction.
A filing on behalf of Adelson noted that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commission in August 2012 retracted similar allegations about prostitution at the Sands Macau casino, finding that they were untrue and saying it was wrong to have repeated them.
Wednesday’s unanimous answer from the five participating Nevada Supreme Court justices held that the online petition was protected speech because it linked to source material about a judicial proceeding. The justices also found that Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute — prior to being amended in 2013 — covered speech aimed at procuring a governmental or electoral action.
SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Anti-SLAPP statues aim to discourage lawsuits that target protected speech.
A Las Vegas Sands spokesman declined to comment on Wednesday’s decision.
Adelson Decision by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd
A dozen media organizations, including the Nevada Press Association, filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the council on the issue of the use of a hyperlink.
The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.
Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.
